GOP action in Saratoga

The county Republican Committee endorsed the law & order Jims last night, Sheriff Jim Bowen and District Attorney Jim Murphy. The DA doesn’t face competition but two men have said they will run against Bowen. Candidates may start gathering nominating petitions June 9. Papers are due at the Board of Elections between July 13 and 16. Murphy would be starting his fourth term if elected; Bowen has been sheriff since the ice age the Nixon administration.

Almost all the county supervisors are up for reelection this fall, committee chairman John “Jasper” Nolan told me. The town committees in Stillwater and Milton failed to endorse their incumbents. The jilted – Shawn Connelly and Frank Thompson, respectively, have not said if they will challenge Ed Kinowski or John Frolish. If they want to force a primary, they must also collect nominating signatures from Republicans between June 9 and July 16. If they want to run as independents, they may start collecting signatures July 7. It is trickier to run as an independent because a voter may not sign more than one petition for the same office.

In Providence, Democrat Richard Hunter has said he will not run again, neither party has announced a candidate to take the job. In Malta, town board member Sue Nolen has said she will primary Supervisor Paul Sausville. In Ballston, Republican Peter Conners will take on Patti Southworth who won two year ago as a Democrat but has since changed her enrollment to independent.

Nolan said there is no word yet from Moreau as to who the Republicans will tap to run against Democrat Preston Jenkins. In Saratoga Springs, the Republicans will support Matt Veitch again and haven’t chosen someone to run against Democrat Joanne Yepsen.

Elsewhere things seem status quo, at least where the GOP is concerned – no word from the Dems yet. The supervisors are up for reelection in Clifton Park, Corinth, Day, Greenfield, Wilton, Northumberland, Saratoga, Waterford and Halfmoon. Mechanicville and Edinburg have this year off.

As for his own future, Nolan acknowledged the “talk out there” that he should step down as chairman of the party after three consecutive Congressional losses. He has no intention to do so, citing his good health at “nearly 75″ and 50 years in politics. Nolan has been chairman since 1986. He did express a love/hate attitude toward the job. “I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” he said. “Every time you need to make a decision as part of your job, someone complains.”

At the same time, Nolan said, he is thick-skinned and happy in his job. Nolan is up for reelection in September, 2010.

4 Responses

To understand why the Republican Party is in a downward spiral one only need to look at Jasper’s comments. At 75 and nearly 50 years in politics he has no intention of stepping down, with the recent numbers of losses, in a Republican stronghold, he needs to reconsider. Jasper is doing the same things today as they did 50 years ago. It no longer applies and it no longer works. Just in case Jasper old boy, hasn’t noticed, times they are a changin. He has single handedly lost 3 consecutive Congressional races, after all he hand picked the candidates. Lost a County Judges race along with numerous other local races. What happens, is that at his age you feel entitled to the job and some folks are less likely to criticize a Senior.
Jasper, if in fact , you are the party man you say you are, do the right thing and don’t seek re-election. Better yet step down before the fall election season and allow a new chairman to get involved in the races from the start and not have to clean up your mess later on.

In the old days, you would never see Republicans against Republicans in primaries. There was a unified hold on all incumbents and party leaders. If you didn’t support who the leaders chose, you didn’t have your county job. Just look at all the towns that aren’t supporting their Supervisors because they can’t run them like puppets. The Town Chairs should be ashamed of themselves, and the GOP will incur a heavy loss because of the lack of leadership. New leadership is needed before the GOP loses everything.